Asif Ali Zardari elected new President of Pakistan

Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari has been elected as new president of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on Saturday. Asif Ali Zardari is Pakistan's 11th since 1956, when the country became a republic, excluding acting presidents. The voting process was held through a secret ballot by the two chambers of the national parliament, the National Assembly and Senate and the four provincial assemblies. Chief Election Commissioner, Justice (R) Qazi Muhammad Farooq conducted the proceedings as Returning Officer for election to the Office of the President. The contest was between Asif Ali Zardari of PPP, Justice (R) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui of PML(N) and Mushahid Hussain Syed of PML(Q). CEC and Returning Officer briefed the members of Senate and National Assembly about the voting procedure before the start of the polling and their names were called according to alphabetical order for voting.